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Okay, I am basically a broker in the printing/graphic arts industry. I deal with the distributors, and dropship products to printshops all over the country.

Here is my situation. I dropshipped some film to a customer. It was a rather large order (about $1800), and the distributor shipped it directly to my customer. They charged my credit card for the order(as usual). Well, the customer calls me a week later, saying "they never got the material"... well, after some investigation, UPS has admitted they screwed up, and damaged the goods. Well, I called my distributor, and they told me "they are working with UPS to clear up the matter"... Here is my thing, shouldn't they go ahead and credit my card back now, since this was a UPS screw-up, and the material going to my customer is ruined? Should I go ahead and dispute the charge with my credit card company?? I am asking this because this distributor has a history of taking FOREVER to take care of problems... and I really would not rather have to pay an additional $1800 in 3 weeks.

Any comments would be helpful. Thanks!

__________________Miss the West Coast, but Mama aint leavin' the South! U-Dub Alum 92' (When we were worth a *&%$)

If the distributor has a history of taking care of problems, then yes, I would dispute the charge.
How are they "working with UPS" to fix the situation?
How are they going to make things right by you or the customer?

If the distributor has a history of taking care of problems, then yes, I would dispute the charge.
How are they "working with UPS" to fix the situation?
How are they going to make things right by you or the customer?

(A) Yes, they have an issue of taking forever to credit back a card.. You have to badger the hell out them in order to do it.. I guess they have the "Well, maybe they will forget about it" mentality

(B) The manager at the distributor is "talking with their UPS rep" about getting re-imbursed... UPS has admitted they damaged the product..

(C) They went ahead and shipped out another box of film to the customer as a replacement, but charged my card for that order... So, as of now, I am down $1800 (because I have not been re-imbursed for the damaged shipment)

__________________Miss the West Coast, but Mama aint leavin' the South! U-Dub Alum 92' (When we were worth a *&%$)

(A) Yes, they have an issue of taking forever to credit back a card.. You have to badger the hell out them in order to do it.. I guess they have the "Well, maybe they will forget about it" mentality

(B) The manager at the distributor is "talking with their UPS rep" about getting re-imbursed... UPS has admitted they damaged the product..

(C) They went ahead and shipped out another box of film to the customer as a replacement, but charged my card for that order... So, as of now, I am down $1800 (because I have not been re-imbursed for the damaged shipment)

I would look into finding a new distributor too if they have caused you issues in the past in addition to the new problem.

__________________
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."
Bill Shankly, YNWA!

We rarely use these people (because of situations like this)... This was definitely the last straw with these people.

Good luck getting it sorted out. Seems shady that they would charge you for the second shipment. They should have just sent the second shipment and got their money from UPS. IMO.

__________________
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."
Bill Shankly, YNWA!

Good luck getting it sorted out. Seems shady that they would charge you for the second shipment. They should have just sent the second shipment and got their money from UPS. IMO.

I was pissed when they charged my card again... I told them "You shipped it, why are you charging my card?? This is not on me at all"... Well, their response was "Once we get it straightened out with UPS, we will refund you card"...

I appreciate everyone's comment on this... I am calling my card now... I just did not want to think I was out of line (on disputing this charge)..

__________________Miss the West Coast, but Mama aint leavin' the South! U-Dub Alum 92' (When we were worth a *&%$)

Use FedEx from now on......UPS is terrible. I personally know a high level UPS employee and he admits the company pushes #'s over quality. I've heard stories of "Fragile" boxes kicked into trucks, etc. I'm not suprised one bit.

If you/your customer didn't get the merchandise, you should dispute the charge ASAP with your credit card company. Be honest and tell them why you are disputing it. They will reverse the charges and let the shipper know why. If they're legit and an honest company, they should have no problem with this. Actually they should have refunded your card themselves ASAP.

They are responsible for filing the claim with UPS since they shipped it. Hopefully they insured it or UPS will only pay their max liability, which is $100.

you don't need to do anything since you are not a party to the shipment. with you not being on the shipping docs, the distributor will have to file the claim with ups. ups will resolve it pretty quickly if they are liable. they'll mail a check to your distributor for the cost of the lost product.*this is all assuming this was not a third party shipment.

you have a few options:

- you can reimburse your customer now and be reimbursed by your distributor when they receive payment from ups. that could take a while though depending on how frequently ups cuts checks, snail mail, check clears, he pays you... best paper trail, but there are better solutions.

-another option, a little less likely but may depend on your relationship with your distributor, is to have them reimburse you now and you use those funds to reimburse your customer. if ups has stated they are at fault, his money will come, it will just take a while; and you're stuck holding the paper while you wait.

-easiest solution is probably just to ask the distributor to credit your account and let him keep the check from ups. submit a replacement PO to him, pay for it with the credit, customer gets their product a few days late, and nobody's out of pocket except ups.

If you/your customer didn't get the merchandise, you should dispute the charge ASAP with your credit card company. Be honest and tell them why you are disputing it. They will reverse the charges and let the shipper know why. If they're legit and an honest company, they should have no problem with this. Actually they should have refunded your card themselves ASAP.

They are responsible for filing the claim with UPS since they shipped it. Hopefully they insured it or UPS will only pay their max liability, which is $100.

This is exactly what I did last night...Told them what was going on, and my credit card company understood the situation, and put in a dispute. The shipper/distributor has had a history of not doing the right thing(dragging their feet) on stuff like this (crediting my credit card back for a return).

__________________Miss the West Coast, but Mama aint leavin' the South! U-Dub Alum 92' (When we were worth a *&%$)